Golden Dragon King

Tang Wulin was under immense psychological pressure. Although she had reached level 19, just as Mu Qian had said, before her martial soul evolved, it truly was of little help in battle.

The only reason she had been able to keep Gu Yue occupied for so long was purely because of her reaction speed and physical stamina.

But such explosive bursts and relentless attacks were extremely draining on one's endurance.

Even with Tang Wulin's extraordinary physique, she could not defend against the fireballs while closing the distance and trying to drag the battle into close combat.

The battle gradually reached a stalemate. Both Gu Yue and Tang Wulin had already played every trump card they could currently use.

A flash of silver passed through Gu Yue's eyes, and her figure suddenly appeared ten meters away.

Wu Zhangkong's eyes shifted. "Spatial ability? An Elemental Envoy can do that too?"

Tang Wulin also drew upon the last of her strength. She squeezed every last bit out of her body and unleashed all of it at once.

Like a cannonball leaving the barrel, she shot toward Gu Yue.

Though she knew Gu Yue might still be able to teleport again, she had no other choice.

Her attack range was already very short, and her soul skill's wind-up was far too obvious.

Once the distance widened beyond a certain point, the person before her would kite her around until she lost the ability to fight.

So she had to gamble!

She would gamble that Gu Yue could not teleport again!

Gu Yue looked at Tang Wulin in astonishment, seemingly unable to understand why she would force herself to such extremes just to drag her into close combat.

But she was merely surprised—

Tang Wulin's attack looked fierce, but Gu Yue only needed to make slight use of the elements to enhance her agility.

Then she could evade the final strike by a hair's breadth.

But Gu Yue had miscalculated—

Gu Yue did evade it, yet two vines suddenly appeared in Tang Wulin's hands, yanking Gu Yue, who had just shifted aside by a fraction, back again.

Feeling her body bound, Gu Yue was instinctively stunned.

But before she could react, a fist came straight at her face—

The fist was incomparably fierce, whipping up a gust that sent Gu Yue's hair flying into disarray.

Wu Zhangkong was just about to intervene when he saw Tang Wulin stop.

Using the last of her strength, she forcibly halted the punch. Luo Qing hurried forward and caught the swaying Tang Wulin.

"Teacher... does this mean I won?"

Tang Wulin collapsed in Luo Qing's arms and looked at Wu Zhangkong weakly.

Wu Zhangkong's gaze softened for a moment, but he quickly composed himself and replied, "You passed. I greatly admire that you stopped yourself from hurting your classmate at the final moment—"

"Really? That's good..."

Tang Wulin's strength drained away. Her head tilted against Luo Qing's chest, and she fell asleep.

Gu Yue still stood there, her hair slightly disheveled, her eyes full of disbelief.

"Why can the Golden Dragon King use vines?"

"Isn't the wood element with me?"

She lowered her head to look at her hands, as if regretting her own carelessness just now.

Wu Zhangkong glanced at her and, after some thought, gave his assessment. "When neither side's advantage was clear earlier, you were still able to respond rationally."

"But once your advantage grew, you became overconfident. You are still somewhat arrogant..."

Gu Yue said nothing. She merely raised a hand to smooth out the long hair the wind had tousled.

Before leaving, she gave Luo Qing and Tang Wulin in his arms one last deep look.

The sparring continued. While Tang Wulin was unconscious, she seemed to enter a strange world.

There was nothingness everywhere, with only specks of starlight decorating the dark space.

Tang Wulin opened her eyes and looked around, realizing that she was not in her sea of spirit.

"Big Brother?"

"Old Tang?"

"Dad? Mom?"

Tang Wulin called out three times on instinct, only to find that no one answered.

The bizarre surroundings made her uneasy, yet some unseen will seemed to be guiding her onward.

Following that strange feeling, Tang Wulin took one step at a time toward the distance ahead.

The starlight gathered beneath her feet into a path, and every star was brilliant gold.

Each star seemed exceptionally close to her, but when she walked along the path of starlight to its end, she froze.

How could the sight before her be described in words?

Tang Wulin's eyes widened as she looked at the creature before her, which was like a mountain—no, even greater than a mountain.

The creature was covered in golden scales and possessed a pair of enormous dragon wings.

Its horned head was held high, while its abdomen had been pierced through by something resembling the hand of a clock.

Behind it stood something enormous, almost identical to the great clock atop a bell tower—the hour hand and minute hand were lodged firmly in the dragon's body.

Only the second hand still stubbornly struck the dragon's scales again and again.

Tang Wulin stared at the awe-inspiring sight before her and unconsciously took a step forward.

The giant dragon suddenly opened its eyes. Its voice was ethereal and weary, as though countless voices were intertwined and overlapping.

"You... have come?"

Tang Wulin did not know whether the dragon was calling for her. She pointed to herself, her face full of confusion.

"It is you. You are the one I have been waiting for..."

As though it had seen something that delighted it, the dragon burst into hearty laughter.

The violent movement nearly caused the hour hand and minute hand to slice through its internal organs. Even as golden blood flowed from its body, it continued laughing.

"Finally... after 451,600 times! After the turning of 451,600 timelines, I finally found it..."

Tang Wulin could not quite understand what the dragon was trying to say, but she wanted to leave, so she could only interrupt it.

"Um, Senior Dragon— is there a way to leave this place?"

"Of course. You can leave whenever you wish."

"But don't you want to have a chat with me?"

"Talk about why you have had such an enormous appetite and such excessive strength since childhood?"

Tang Wulin's curiosity was immediately piqued.

Though she had vaguely sensed that her strength came from the dragon before her.

She still wanted to know what exactly was going on.

Seeing that she agreed, the giant dragon spoke bluntly.

"My name is the Golden Dragon King. I am one half of the Dragon God."

"I govern the Dragon God's physique, vitality, and the power of time—"

"I am also the one who crossed time, constantly trying to reclaim the future—"

Seeing how formidable the dragon before her was, Tang Wulin immediately sucked in a breath.

"So powerful?"

"Not powerful enough..."

The golden dragon continued speaking. Before the tiny human, it finally opened up—

Tang Wulin also sat down on the ground and listened seriously to the dragon's story.

"So even after restarting so many times, you still couldn't defeat that God King under Heaven's Will?"

"That is right. No matter what methods I tried, I remembered and mastered every trump card I could possibly use."

"And I still failed to defeat him..."

"I thought I would lose that unwinnable battle and was preparing to give up."

"Then I encountered you and Luo Qing—"